In the closing months of 1942, only a few yards of bitterly contested ground stood between Hitler and the prize which he valued above all others - Stalingrad, the city on the Volga which carried the name of his greatest enemy. The terrible ferocity of the fighting in the ruined city plumbed the depths of human suffering the iron grip of a Russian winter. After the battle the wretched survivors of a beaten German army emerged from their hiding places and surrendered to the Red army. They had once been 350,000 strong but only 90,000 of these frost bitten, starving scarecrows remained to make the painful forced march into Russian captivity.Throughout the summer of 1942 the Germans 6 th Army slowly ground its way towards the capture of Stalingrad. Deep behind the Russian lines, preparations were already under way for a massive counter offensive to be launched on November 19, which would doom 6th Army's effort and spell the collapse of the whole German campaign in the south.By December 1942 the German Army trapped in Stalingrad was beginning to realise just how desperate the situation had become. With supplies running low the German were surviving from drops provided from Airlifts to the beleaguered city. One of the great arguments for the sacrifices of Paulus 6 th Army.